Thursday, 13 March 2014

O'Farrell government refuses to protect Sydney and Illawara water supplies from coal seam gas mining

Protecting the water supply to Sydney and the Illawara should be a prime government responsibility you would think. With the jury out on whether coal seam gas can be mined without contaminating the state's aquifers, prime agricultural farmland or public water supplies the O'Farrell liberals are refusing to support an opposition Bill that would permanently ban
coal seam gas exploration or mining in the water catchment areas of Sydney and
the Illawarra.

If enacted, the opposition's Bill will cancel existing licences and leases
relating to the exploration, assessment and production of coal seam gas in
Sydney water catchment special areas. It also will prohibit the grant or renewal
of new licences.

The Sydney Water Catchment Management Act and the regulations currently identified 5 special areas, 5 catchments
managed and protected by the Sydney Catchment Authority—Warragamba, Woronora,
Upper Nepean, Blue Mountains and the Shoalhaven. Taken together these catchments
cover less than 2 per cent of NSW but supply clean drinking water to
around 5 million people—60 per cent of the State's population. So precious
are these water catchment special areas that, penalties of tens of thousands of dollars apply for doing things like, camping, lighting a fire, swimming or fishing in the water in any of these
special areas.

What a joke, you can't light a fire for a billy but you can mine coal seam gas.

Why, you might ask is the O'Farrell government so implacably opposed to protecting our water supplies? Is all his promises like the Wallarah 2 coal mine a promise that it will never happen; "no ifs, no buts"?

About Ron Hoenig

Ron Hoenig MP is the State Member for Heffron in the NSW Parliament.
He was elected to Parliament at a by-election on the 25 August 2012.
Prior to entering Parliament he was the Mayor of the City of Botany Bay, a position he held for more than 30 years. He was, and still is regarded by many as one of the most progressive Mayors in the Sydney metropolitan region.
He is a barrister and prior to entering parliament was a Public Defender for the State of New South Wales.
Ron Hoenig was born in Sydney and raised in Eastlakes, attending Eastlakes Public School, Daceyville Public School and The J.J. Cahill Memorial High School in Mascot.